


Familiar Bedfellows

by SubtextEquals



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-29
Updated: 2013-06-28
Packaged: 2017-12-16 12:47:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/862193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SubtextEquals/pseuds/SubtextEquals
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s the day after Christmas and Remus wakes with several problems. One, he has a hangover. Two, he’s in bed with Sirius Black.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Winter Wolfstar Wank for the prompt "Boxing Day."

As a rule, Sirius was a sound sleeper. This was doubly true when he was hung over. Remus had no such luck. The light that filtered in through the curtains was far too bright and he squeezed his eyes shut in the hopes of blocking it out. All in vain, for the pink of his eyelids burned into his brain. He buried himself in his blankets and turned his head toward his pillow. His pillow, which felt remarkably firm beneath him and, though it was still soft, not in the comforting way that fabric did. This was skin.

Remus opened his eyes. He cringed immediately and not just because of the light. Lying directly _under_ him (and how had he missed that?) was Sirius Black. They were tangled under the covers of one of their beds, which one he didn’t care to tell at the moment. The other man was shirtless and, to his horror, so was Remus.

To the best of his ability (which, at the moment, was not much) Remus created a running tally of everything that was wrong with the situation. One, they were half naked. Two, they were in bed together. Three, their legs were intertwined and Remus would be hard pressed to disentangle himself from this situation. None of that would be wrong at all if it weren’t for number four, they had both been utterly, completely, and catastrophically pissed last night.

It was their way of celebrating Christmas now that Sirius had finally escaped his family. They had all stayed at Hogwarts for the holidays. Sirius insisted on it, despite the fact that the Potters had invited him to their home. Remus didn’t understand it at the time but once Sirius broke out the alcohol last night he understood all too well that this was what his friend had in mind all along. One night full of raucous partying which, somehow, Remus managed to keep confined to their dorm. At least… he thought he had. Everything started to get fuzzy after the second drink and he blacked out just as he started his fourth. And now here he was.

What in Merlin’s name was he supposed to do now?

It was ridiculous to think that Sirius wanted this let alone planned it. As usual, his clever idea backfired but this time it hadn’t landed him in detention. No, this was worse.

A full minute had passed since Remus woke and still his mind refused to come up with an escape plan. That was his job, wasn’t it? He was responsible for contingency plans, for making his friends see reason and pulling them back before they were all expelled. Not that he’d done a particularly good job at it but at least they were still here. This, though, he couldn’t fix. It was too late to act now, too late to do anything more than stare at Sirius’s sleeping form.

And he looked so peaceful even though he was sleeping off his inebriation, even though when he woke he would have the mother of all headaches to contend with not to mention a werewolf in his bed. His dark hair was unruly, slick with a night’s worth of sweat, but as usual it framed his face with a sort of elegance. His breathing was soft and beneath the covers his chest rose and fell. As Remus took that in he noted the love mark left on Sirius’s neck. He’d seen them before, briefly. Back when Sirius had girlfriends he would sometimes return from a date scowling and the next day when Remus glanced over as he dressed he would see purple bruises on his neck and shoulders. The sight had made Remus’s stomach twist and it wasn’t until several days later when Sirius inevitably broke it off with the girl that he felt as though he could breathe again.

He used to dream about leaving those marks on Sirius but not just on his neck or his shoulders but his chest, his hip, inner thigh, everywhere that Remus could press his lips to. He still dreamed about that but last night had been no dream. If only he could remember.

If he could remember…

If he couldn’t remember then surely Sirius wouldn’t either. His friend had a greater tolerance for alcohol but he had less restraint and didn’t know how to pace himself. If he could get out of bed and pretend nothing had happened…

Then the love bites would give him away. No, he couldn’t run from this, no matter how much he wanted to.

Remus studied the livid bruise on the juncture of Sirius’s neck and shoulder. He wondered what it had been like. Had their tongues clashed? Had they stumbled as they made their way into bed? Feverishly ripping at each other’s clothes, one of them tackling the other onto the mattress, kissing and grinding. Or had it been softer? A slowly rising crescendo that neither could stop until they finally found their way here? Had it been as perfect as Remus always imagined it would be?

He was so lost in thought that he missed Sirius crack his eyes open then just as quickly close them. He didn’t miss the groan that left the man’s throat and for a second he felt his heart stop. Remus quickly slipped his legs free from Sirius’s and started to push himself off the bed when the sound of his name on Sirius’s lips made him freeze.

“Moony?”

Remus was grateful that he had his back to Sirius. His legs were swung over the bed, poised and ready to spring off of the floor the second he gave them the order. He felt Sirius sit up behind him and soon his hand closed over Remus’s wrist.

It was the touch that sent him running. He didn’t bother looking behind to see if Sirius was following or not. He simply had to get away, clear his head, _think_ if only for a moment. Rid himself of the blind panic he’d fallen into.

He missed the sight of Sirius leaning back against the bed frame, missed him listening to the receding footfalls and rub something other than sleep from his eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing Sirius did when he crawled out of bed was to check the Marauder’s map. Remus must have realized that there weren’t many places to retreat to when he was half naked in the middle of winter as he found his friend’s name in the Prefect’s bathroom. After that Sirius quickly went into action. He had just finished pulling on his clothes and was digging through Remus’s drawers when he heard Peter clamber out of bed. After six years of living together, he could tell it was him from the way the mattress creaked as he moved. Well, that and James was snoring like a dying moose or, in this case, stag.

There was a pause, no doubt while Peter blinked and perhaps rubbed his eyes, before he spoke. “What are you doing?”

Sirius fished out a shirt and was now in search of a suitable pair of trousers. He was not going to touch his friend’s pants lest he make an already bad situation worse. He didn’t so much as look over his shoulder as he answered his friend.

“Remus went off to the Prefect’s bathroom and asked me to get him some clothes.”

“Must have been in a hurry.”

“Yes, well—ah!” Sirius found the trousers he’d been looking for, having a good deal more familiarity with his friend’s wardrobe than was entirely normal, and held the clothes under his arm. He finally turned to Peter and flashed him a smile. “I threw up on him last night. So I better get these to him. See you later, Wormy.”

“Sirius.” The other man caught Sirius’s sleeve as he walked past, forcing him to stop. Peter took the opportunity to straighten his friend’s collar so that it covered a noticeable purple mark.

When he realized what had happened Sirius blanched but Peter said nothing, simply looked up at him, smiled, and patted his arm.

“Well, I better…” Sirius stammered.

“Yeah.” Peter walked back to his bed and flopped down on it. “Wake me up for breakfast, will you?”

“Sure.” _If I’m back in time for it._

\---

By the time Sirius was half way to the Prefect’s bathroom he’d gotten over the embarrassment of Peter discovering a leftover love bite from last night. Remus had left several, most of them in easily covered locations on his chest. If they were any indication then the other man had been an eager participant in last night’s activities… whatever that had been. Judging by the presence of his pants and lack of stickiness, they hadn’t gotten up to too much fun. Sirius didn’t know if he should be relieved or not. As much as he wanted to have had one night with Remus all to himself, he’d always wanted to remember it. Not to mention sleeping together would have added one more layer of complication that they didn’t need.

Besides, it was clear that Remus didn’t want it. Why else would he go running off like that?

God, that was stupid. He was stupid. So bloody stupid. Getting plastered during Christmas. What could _possibly_ go wrong? What a daft, stubborn fool he was. One night of bliss and inebriation and one morning of outing himself to the two friends he should have come out to months ago. Actually telling Remus that he was gay was infinitely preferable to having the man find out when Sirius pushed him into drunkenly making out with him. And if he realized that Sirius was in love with him…

Sirius found himself outside of the bathroom. He wavered as he reached for the door but by the time his hand closed around it his grasp was firm. One deep breath later and he opened the door a crack.

“Remus?” He called. Holding the spare change of clothes he brought, he pressed his arm inside. “I thought you could use some clothes.”

He heard a muffled “mff” from inside followed shortly by a mumbled “thank you.”

Sirius waited for a moment. “Can I come in?” He asked finally.

“Give me a minute. I’m in the bath.”

Fighting off the images prompted by that response, Sirius waited not so patiently outside while Remus dried off. As desperately as he tried not to, he could clearly picture the way the water ran down his friend’s scarred back as he climbed out of the bath, rivulets running down patches of skin until they were wiped away by a towel.

_No doubt cleaning your scent off of him,_ Sirius thought bitterly.

He had been leaning against the door and so when it opened suddenly he fell backward and would have toppled onto the floor if Remus hadn’t caught him. Supporting him with his slight frame, the werewolf helped Sirius stand.

“Thanks.” Sirius said.

He did his best to keep his gaze at Remus’s eyes instead of letting his eyes wander down. Remus had toweled off most of the water but he was still damp. In contrast, Sirius’s mouth had gone dry, especially when he saw that Remus had not been the only one carried away. So many of the scars on Remus’s chest were covered by purple marks, bruises left with nothing but love in mind. Well, love and a fair bit of lust. In the wake of that sight Sirius struggled to say the word “here” as he handed Remus his clothes.

Remus didn’t wait to put the shirt on. He smoothed down his shirt and finally looked up at Sirius. His eyes were haunting, sad and lost and lonely in spite of what they’d done last night.

“I needed some time to think.” He said quietly.

“I know.” And Sirius did. So much of what was going through Remus’s mind he couldn’t even guess but he knew that much. “Remus, I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to find out like that.”

“That you’re gay?” There was no look of accusation in Remus’s soft, brown eyes. “I’ve known for a while.”

For a moment Sirius could have sworn his heart stopped. “You have?”

Remus nodded. “The way you acted around girls, how you suddenly stopped seeing them, and—well—you never bragged about…” His cheeks colored faintly.

“Sex?” Sirius supplied.

“Yes.”

“Well, yeah. It wasn’t very…” Sirius rubbed the back of his neck then shrugged. “So you’re all right with—”

“Sirius, we just spent last night… snogging.” Remus made a face as though it was painful to say and Sirius’s heart sank. “What do you think?”

At this point, with his head still pounding, Sirius wasn’t entirely sure but the look on Remus’s face said everything he needed to know. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want you to find out like that.”

“I’m sorry too.” Remus took a deep breath and his gaze fell to the floor. His hands sank into the extra pair of trousers and he turned them over in his hands. “I should have told you too.” He looked up at and Sirius felt a shiver run down his spine. “I just didn’t want things to change.”

“Told me what?” Sirius asked. Everything was falling into place. Remus hadn’t sent him away, and the face he’d made hadn’t been disgust or anger but guilt. Because he’d wanted something more, something different, something that they both remembered.

_I should have told you too._

He took a step closer.

Remus didn’t back away. “That I’m gay and—”

Whatever he’d been about to say, Sirius cut him off with his lips, kissing him tenderly but with no lack of passion. The clothes fell to the floor and Sirius took Remus’s hands in his own, pulling him closer before slipping his arms around his waist. Remus folded his hands over the back of Sirius’s neck. He moaned into Sirius’s lips and it was some time before either of them pulled away. When they did, Sirius nuzzled Remus’s nose.

“Happy Christmas, Moony.”

“Happy Boxing Day, you mean.”

“Oh, whatever.” Sirius grinned and brought their lips together again.


End file.
